COMMENTARY ON GALATIANS
LESSON NUMBER 35
Gal 4:4 “But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, 5 To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.”(Gal 4:4-5)
THE FULNESS OF TIME AND REDEMPTION
INTRODUCTION
The Gospel priority is not the correction of human behavior. Living correctly is certainly not excluded from being made alive unto God, but that is not the focus of the message. The fact that this is the contemporary emphasis in the churches is a commentary on the spiritual degeneracy of institutionalized Christianity. There is a reason for this deterioration. Men cannot capitalize on genuine moral and spiritual change. Where the character of a person is made new, and the new heart and new spirit are realized, the issue becomes feeding, nourishment, and growing up into Christ in all things. The false teachers that had crept in unawares among the Galatians were perpetrating “another gospel.” Because of this circumstance, the message was spiritually impotent. God did not and could not work through that message, hence it had no power. Once this message was accepted, a spiritual decline began. Paul described that decline as removing from the One who had called them into the grace of Christ – and it was all caused by what was being declared to the people. Now Paul will affirm that there is a certain orderliness and objective in the Gospel. Jesus came for a purpose, and it was a Divine purpose, not a human one. In order for the Gospel to work effectively in the people, they must obtain some understanding of what God is doing, and how He is doing it. This text will affirm that it was a purpose associated with time. That is, it was the expression of a purpose that could not be implemented until certain things were accomplished. Among other things, this reveals that the impetus of the Gospel and the salvation that it effects was not simply a love for humanity. That love was certainly present, but it was emphatically not the driving force behind the coming of Jesus – else the matter of time would not have been a key factor. From Adam to Jesus man did not change – so an affection for them cannot be the compelling reason for Christ. Something of God’s marvelous glory is being revealed in salvation, but that revelation required extensive preparation – preparation that would be seen by heavenly intelligences. It also involved the necessity of salvation itself being righteous, with absolutely no compromise of the Divine character. Thus Paul is beginning a marvelous delineation of the purpose of salvation, and of the timeliness of the entrance of Jesus into the world.
WHEN THE FULNESS OF THE TIME WAS COME
Gal 4:4a “But when the fulness of the time was come . . .” Other versions read, “when the time had fully come,” NIV “when the appointed time arrived,” CJB “when the completion of the time came,” CSB and “when the right time came.” GWN
There is a Divine agenda that is being worked out in this world. In fact, apart from that agenda, the world has no real purpose. It certainly is not an end of itself, else it would not be marked out for destruction. Time also has boundaries – a beginning and an end. Between those two extremities an appointed objective is being processed. When that objective is completed, time itself will be brought to a grinding halt. Until the final cessation of time, the purpose of God is being fulfilled in stages. Our text speaks of one of them. These “stages,” or phases, are why the world continues to exist. The material universe, and the context of time, are not subject to random disruptions or a state of disorderliness. Things like climate control, a comely environment, etc., are not governing circumstances. They are all subordinate to the purpose of God. This is fundamental to sound spiritual thinking.
There are divinely appointed events around which time is bent. According to the purpose of God, they take place at precise times, without delay, and in an effective manner. Thus Noah and his family entered the ark at an appointed time: “the selfsame day” (Gen 7:13). Isaac was born at “the time appointed” (Gen 18:14). On a specific day, as appointed by God, Israel came out of Egypt (Ex 12:41).
THE FULNESS OF THE TIME. The “fulness of time” speaks of a “set time” – i.e. a time set by God. Isaac was born at a “set time” (Gen 17:21; 21:2). When Jacob’s life was nearing its end, it is written, “the time drew nigh that Israel must die” (Gen 47:29). The plagues of Egypt took place at set times (Ex 9:5). Stephen reminded the Sanhedrin that “when the time of the promise drew nigh, which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt” (Acts 7:17). God promised to show favor upon Zion at a “set time” (Psa 102:13). The Lord cultured Israel to do things at the times He had set (Ex 23:15; Psa 81:3). Job said of man, “Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth? are not his days also like the days of an hireling?” (Job 7:1). He also spoke of his own life as “my appointed time” (Job 14:14). A heavenly messenger revealed to Daniel that certain awful events in the earth would be terminated “at the time appointed” (Dan 8:19; 11:27,29,35). Habakkuk was shown a vision of a Divine chastening that would take place at “an appointed time” (Hab 2:3).
Paul told the Athenian philosophers that God had made every nation of men from one man, and had “determined the times before appointed,” or “determined the times set for them” (Acts 17:26). The knowledge of this circumstance moved the Psalmist to say to God, “My times are in Thy hand” (Psa 31:15). It moved Solomon to write, “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven” (Eccl 3:1).
The expression “the fulness of time” portrays time as marching forward toward certain appointments. Thus we read expressions like, “the coming of the Lord draweth nigh” (James 5:8), and “now is our salvation nearer than when we believed” (Rom 13:11).
WAS COME. The language speaks of the absolute precision of Divine appointments. The fulness of the time comes when time has marched forward to the appointed juncture in which God has determined to work. Ultimately, circumstance does not determine when God works. Those, for example, who say that Jesus will not come until men have done this or that simply betray their own abysmal ignorance. Jesus will come at an appointed day and hour (Matt 25:13), regardless of the circumstances at the time. There will be people who are not ready – but He will come anyway.
HOLY REASONING. In view of this revelation about time and Divine appointments, how ought the godly to consider procrastination, slothfulness, or failing to recognize open doors, or being unable to respond to visiting angels, who appear to be men (Heb 13:2). What of those who linger in spiritual infancy, or those who allow themselves to be weighed down with circumstances, referred to in Scripture as “things present” (1 Cor 3:22). If time is marching forward to certain Divine appointments, how can men be caught up in the affairs of this world? How can they be driven by fleshly appetites? Should not the redeemed have an understanding “the times” like the men of Issachar, “to know what” they ought to do (1 Chron 12:32)?
It is written, “And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed” (Rom 13:11). God is not going to delay His appointments in deference to the fickleness of men! No person can afford to be unduly distracted by the circumstances of life, so that the day of the Lord comes unexpectedly. Those who are not ready, will not enter into the joy of the Lord (Matt 25:10). While it may appear on the surface to be little more than conjecture, our lives are to be shaped by the revealed appointments of God. Those include death, the coming of the Lord, and the judgment. If you are able to see it, everything is advancing to the appointed culmination. Be prepared for it.
GOD SENT FORTH HIS SON
4:4b “ . . . God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law.” This is what God had appointed – an event toward which time had relentlessly been marching for four thousand years. Many had forgotten the ancient promise, but those who lived by faith had not done so. It appeared as though this period of time – twice as long as the time that has expired since its fulfillment – was a hopeless amount of time. But that was not at all the case. From the Divine point of view, it was a time of preparation in which the Lord was readying the world for the appearance of His Son. From man’s point of view, it was a time of testing, to identify those who really did believe the promise.
GOD SENT FORTH HIS SON. Other versions read, “God sent out His Son,” BBE “sent His Son,” CSB and “sent His Son into the world.” GWN The words “sent forth” are translated from a single Greek word. While this is a technicality, it is needful to briefly comment about it. The meaning of the original word is “to send away from oneself, out of the place . . . to send forth with commissions,” THAYER “as removing someone from a place, send away, dismiss,” FRIBERG and “to send out or away from, presumably for some purpose.” LOUW-NIDA
The point here is not where the Son was sent, but rather where He was sent from. He “came down from heaven” (John 6:38,51). From another perspective, He was sent by the Father (John 5:23,37,44,57; 8:18). Jesus said of Himself, “I proceeded forth and came from God” (John 8:42). He said He was the One “whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world” (John 10:36). Concerning his mission He said, “No man taketh it [His life] from Me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of My Father” (John 10:18).The Lord Jesus also referred to what He had been commissioned to do. “but the Father which sent Me, He gave Me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak” (John 12:49).
Men do not have a right to define why Jesus came into the world. John said God sent Jesus “to be the Savior of the world” (1 John 4:14). Jesus said He had been sent “to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised” (Luke 4:18). Those who receive the Son also receive the Father who sent Him (Matt 10:40; Mk 9:37). Those who despise Jesus, or reject Him, also despise or reject the God who sent Him (Lk 10:16).
On the very day sin and death entered into the world, God announced to the devil that the seed of the woman would deliver a mortal bruise to him. In the intervening four thousand years, Satan, using all of his craftiness, sought to abort that mission. One of his children killed Abel, who was in the Messianic lineage. The father’s of the Jewish race, to whom the promises were delivered, all had barren wives (Gen 11:30; 25:21; 29:31). Time and again, the appointed race through which Jesus would come, fell into sin and degradation, often threatened with extinction (Ex 32:10; Deut 32:19; Psa 106:40). Yet, in the fulness of the time, God “sent forth His Son,” just as He had promised. Satan could not stop it. Principalities and powers could not delay it.
MADE OF A WOMAN. Other versions read, “born of a woman,” NKJV “come of woman,” DARBY “a woman gave birth to Him,” GWN and “from a woman.” MRD The word translated “made” means, “to become, I. e. to come into existence, begin to be, receive being: absolutely.” THAYER The birth of Jesus is not the point here, but His coming into being, which speaks primarily of His conception. Ordinarily, begetting the seed is accredited to the man. Thus the Messianic lineage is traced through the men, as well as all other Scriptural genealogies (Matt 1:2-16; Lk 3:23-38; Gen 5:3-32). But this was not the manner of Christ’s birth. He had His earthly origin of the woman, and was the “Seed” of the woman.
Through the prophet Jeremiah, God spoke of the Messiah being made “of a woman.” He declared it would be a “new thing,” or of a new and differing order. “for the LORD hath created a new thing in the earth, A woman shall compass a man” (Jer 31:22). This prophecy speaks of the Lord Jesus being miraculously formed in, and protected by, the womb of Mary. No earthly father was involved. The seed of man was not the cause. Rather, a virgin conceived, which was the confirmation of the promise concerning the woman’s “Seed.” He was not “made” of the man and the woman, but of the woman. Technically speaking, Jesus did not have His beginning in the womb of Mary. Rather, He came from heaven in a humble form, being sent into the world by the Father.
MADE UNDER THE LAW. The same word is translated “made” as in the previous clause. That is, He came into the world as one subject to the Law which He Himself had originated. He would confirm that whoever is born of God does, in fact, keep the Law and does not sin against it. While His conception was miraculous, He was subject to the Law like every offspring of Adam. This opened the door for Him to be tempted, for in “the form of God,” He could not be tempted with evil (James 1:13). This whole circumstance was submitted to by the Word (Heb 10:5-10). This humiliation was a requirement for the salvation of men. Just as surely as David had to meet Goliath on the battlefield, so Jesus had to enter the fallen realm to rescue men.
REDEMPTION AND ADOPTION
4:5 "To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.”
Now the purpose for Jesus being sent into the world under the described circumstances is given in one grand summation. A situation existed that could not be resolved by men, regardless of their imagined wisdom and expertise. As it is written, “None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him” (Psa 49:7). Here is a situation where the perceived best among men is thoroughly impotent.
TO REDEEM THEM THAT WERE UNDER THE LAW. Other versions read, “make them free who were under the Law,” BBE “pay for the freedom of those who were controlled by these laws,” GWN “ransom those under the law,” NAB “buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law,” NLT “buy back the freedom of those who were under law,” IE “purchase the freedom of all who were subject to Law,” WEYMOUTH “to redeem from captivity those under law,” MONTGOMERY and “To purchase the freedom of (to ransom, to redeem, to atone for) those who were subject to the Law.” AMPLIFIED
The concept of redemption. The concept of redemption was developed under the Law. The first mentioning of being redeemed was by Jacob, who confessed to Joseph “the Angel” had “redeemed” him “from all evil” (Gen 48:16). The next mention of the word was spoken to Moses concerning the Israelites in Egyptian bondage: “I will redeem you with an outstretched arm” (Ex 6:6). The deliverance of Israel from Egypt is referred to as them being “redeemed” (Ex 13:15). Within the Law, there were numerous references to redemption (Ex 21:8; 34:20; Lev 25:21-54).
Redemption required a payment – a buying, or purchase of the person or thing that was being redeemed. In regards to our text, the redemption was not with money, or anything that is corruptible. “Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers” (1 Pet 1:18). Referring to this purchase it is written, “For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's” (1 Cor 6:20). And again, “Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men” (1 Cor 7:23).
I do not believe the modern church has done well in representing this essential part of salvation. A kind of milk-soppy gospel is preached that minimizes the enormous price that has been paid to free men. However, a price was required to procure men, and it was of such magnitude than no man or group of men were capable of gathering it.
What it means to be under the Law. All who are “under the Law” have their mouth’s “stopped,” and are “guilty before God” (Rom 3:19). There is nothing they themselves can do about their situation. Because they are “under the Law,” sin has “dominion” over them (Rom 6:14). They are further “shut up” to the faith, being “prisoners of the Law” NIV (Gal 3:23). Only those who are “led of the Spirit” are not under the Law (Gal 5:18). This is a situation that demands a purchase price that only Jesus could pay. No plan, regimen, or wise approach to life can free men from enslavement to sin.
THAT WE MIGHT RECEIVE THE ADOPTION OF SONS. Other versions read, “receive the full rights of sons,” NIV “might be given the place of sons,” BBE “enable us to be made God’s sons,” CJB “adopted as sons with full rights,” NET “through election might receive the inheritance that belongeth unto the natural sons,” TNT and “might be adopted and have sonship conferred upon us [and be recognized as God’s sons].” AMPLIFIED
The concept of receiving. Receiving from God accents Divine choice and beneficence. Things men receive from God include power (Acts 1:8), the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38), abundance of grace (Rom 5:17), mercy (2 Cor 4:1), Christ Jesus the Lord (Col 2:6), the word (1 Thess 1:6), and the anointing (1 John 2:27). These, together with “the adoption of sons,” are not things we create or develop. They are received by faith, and at the discretion of God Himself.
Why adoption? In Scripture, adoption is the placement of one in the position of a son. It has particularly to do with being received by God and appointed to receive the inheritance. Those in Christ have received “the Spirit of adoption” – i. e. the Holy Spirit confirms their sonship (Rom 8:15). This adoption will be complete when our bodies are redeemed, or delivered from the bondage of corruption (Rom 8:23). God is greatly pleased with this entire arrangement. Thus it is written that He has “predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will” (Eph 1:5).
Although Israel is described as a “natural” olive tree (Rom 11:24), yet their association with God is also referred to as “the adoption” (Rom 9:4). Technically, only Jesus was an unadopted Son, being conceived by the Holy Spirit. All other sons are adopted, being received because of God’s mercy and grace, and their faith in Him. Even then, however, a price had to be paid so they could be adopted. God’s nature would not allow Him to receive men as His sons without their sin being judged and condemned in the flesh of His Son. The understanding of this significantly alters how men regard sin, and how they go about to eliminate it from their lives.